What do the Scriptures ask of us when they speak of "believing?" Fr. Stephen looks at the nature of true believing and its importance for our lives.

The heart can see what the eye cannot and can take this unseen things into itself. Fr. Stephen looks at the possibility of joy even when the eye sees nothing joyful.

It is something of a commonplace for modern Christians to think about their "ministry" and place within the Church. Fr. Stephen looks at this idea in the light of Tradition and offers a different approach.

Fr. Stephen looks at the importance of understanding our relationship with God as involving all of who and what we are and not reducing our relationship to a set of ideas.

Our digitalized world has created what we now call "virtual reality." The reality that we are called to know is not a construct of our own imagination, but the truth of ourselves as found in Christ.

Human beings were created to offer all of creation up to God in an act of thanksgiving. Fr. Stephen explores this life of praise.

Fr. Stephen looks at the implications for the "end of the world" found in Christ's preaching and incarnation, and what they mean for us.

The forgiveness of enemies is a commandment of Christ and yet something we find almost impossible to do? Why has Christ asked such a thing of us?

Human beings have their true existence only in communion with God. Our prayer is also a communion - both with God and the whole Church.

Many efforts are made to convince modern Christians that they live "in between" Christ's first coming and His second - and that this "in between" period is somehow different and requires new understandings of the gospel. Fr. Stephen refutes this false understanding and describes where it is we now live.

Fr. Stephen looks at particular points within the gospel teaching that are sometimes "scandalous," that is a "rock of stumbling" for believers. He examines how important these points are and how essential for our salvation.

One of the temptations of our secular age is the public drive to make religious faith a "private" matter. Fr. Stephen looks at this tension within our culture and the importance of the Christian public response.

In his recent series on the true and false self, Fr. Stephen looks at evangelism of the heart.

Fr. Stephen offers a meditation on the Father's understanding that everything is in motion. What does this mean for the direction of our lives?

Fr. Stephen notes that in an Orthodox wedding, there are no wedding vows. This stands in stark contrast to the central place vows hold in Western tradition. He suggests that the West has come to think of marriage as a "contract" between two people while the Orthodox Church thinks of it as a "union." The difference is important.

How do we lose God in the midst of our plans? How can we keep Him?

Continuing his series on the "Modern Project," Fr. Stephen looks at the role "choice" plays in the modern world and contrasts that with older disciplines in the Christian life.

The frightful pressure felt by the young as they struggle to find their vocation is deeply enmeshed in the Modern Project. Fr. Stephen looks at those expectations as well as the true vocation of Christians.

Fr. Stephen looks at the nature of envy and its deep connections with ideas of justice.

Fr. Stephen reflects on the hidden nature of God's work.

Fr. Stephen reflects on the complexity of the human heart through the work of Dostoevsky.

With this podcast, Fr. Stephen begins a series in which he looks at the reality of shame and its place in our emotional and spiritual lives. He introduces us to the teaching of the Elder Sophrony that we must learn to "bear a little shame."

When we give thanks to God, particularly in difficult times, Fr. Stephen Freeman tells us we unite ourselves with the Cross of Christ.

Just how connected are we? Fr. Stephen Freeman looks at the classical understanding of human connectedness and what it means for our salvation.

Fr. Stephen Freeman discusses the right relationship between the mind and the body. You might be surprised.

Fr. Stephen Freeman tells us that the culture we live in teaches us to want "good service," to expect things to suit our desires. To serve God, however, requires something very different. Acceptance and thanksgiving are key components of the spiritual life.

Fr. Stephen Freeman looks at the "burden" created by the emotional and spiritual debts of things that others have done to us and how they can be forgiven.

On Star Trek, the guys wearing the Red Shirts are expendable. Fr. Stephen Freeman tells us there's a lot to think about in that.

Fr. Stephen looks at the difficulties of forgiveness and what it is, exactly, that is being asked of us in Christ's commandments.

The Orthodox understanding of the spiritual life is unlike most things that we think about in our culture. There is not a "technique" that produces "results." Instead, it is a way of life. Fr. Stephen Freeman explores this understanding.

Fr. Stephen observes that the real truth of our lives before God is best found in our weaknesses rather than in our strengths.

Fr. Stephen continues his series on the modern world's division between things secular and things spiritual, showing that the Orthodox life should be lived not in a "two-storey" universe but in a "one-storey" universe. This talk looks at our modern understanding of time and how it runs counter to the Church's traditional understanding.

Fr. Stephen describes the spiritual warfare that Christians are to engage in as a battle within the heart—which is where we find the very depths of heaven.

Fr. Stephen continues his series on the One-Storey Universe and looks at what it means for the Church. The Church is concrete and real. The "Fullness of Him that Filleth All in All" is not an abstraction or an "invisible" Church, but rather the very real Church established by Christ.

In this podcast, Fr. Stephen speaks about salvation and the Church in the Orthodox understanding. He states that: "the Church is what salvation looks like," and explains how the Tradition of the Church sees our salvation in Christ as something we work out in the context of the believing community rather than as mere individuals.

Fr. Stephen describes the one-storey universe as a faith worth believing and addresses the difficulty that people in the modern world have in transitioning from the secularized religions that dot our landscape to a truly integrated religion such as the Orthodox faith.

Fr. Stephen looks at morality and virtue, particularly as understood during the so-called "Age of Enlightenment," and compares it with an Orthodox understanding of right actions in the life of a Christian.

Fr. Stephen looks at the aspect of seeing the world in wonder—an experience shared by both Christian and non-Christian—and suggests, following St. Gregory of Nyssa, that it is the place where our faith should begin.

In this podcast, Fr. Stephen speaks about giving thanks to God and its foundation in the belief that God is good. He focuses on four aspects of that goodness.

Fr. Stephen talks about one aspect of the Orthodox understanding of salvation by grace, and notes that a very large part of it consists in "just showing up," learning to be present to God and to accept faithfully the means of grace given to us.

Father Stephen comments on some of the thoughts found in a recent work by Archimandrite Zacharias of England. He looks at the "inverted pyramid," the humility of Christ in which authority is to be found not at the top but at the bottom of things, in Christ's bearing the sins of the whole of humanity.

In his inaugural podcast, Fr. Stephen describes the Orthodox view of the world in terms we can all understand.

Fr. Stephen continues his look at the world from an Orthodox perspective.

Continuing with his illuminating series, in part four Fr. Stephen Freeman discusses those (both non-Orthodox and Orthodox) for whom knowledge of God is but a relationship with a book (albeit a sacred book) or with ideas about God. These people are what Fr. Freeman calls "practical atheists." "Although a person may espouse a belief in God, it's quite possible for that belief to be so removed from everyday life that God's non-existence would make little difference."

Fr. Stephen looks at the way icons help us to see the world as it truly is rather than as a window to a "second story."

In this talk Fr. Stephen continues with the imagery of the One-Storey Universe, but uses it to challenge our sense of finitude and scarcity and instead boldly proclaims that the risen Christ has raised us to a kingdom where we are not bound by limits, but by the endless abundance of His love.

"It's not until we cease to divide the world into ordinary and extraordinary, into usual and unusual, into sacred and secular, that we will have either the possibility of knowing God, much less living the Christian life." — Fr. Stephen Freeman

Fr. Stephen Freeman speaks on icons as doors that open onto other rooms. He also speaks about how we view evil in this understanding of God's world.

Ever wonder what the phrase, “the Divine Energies,” means? Fr. Stephen looks at its inner depths and its constant place in our lives. Give thanks to the Lord for He is good! His mercy endures forever!

Fr. Stephen Freeman looks at our transformation into the image of Christ and the forgiveness of our sins in terms of concrete reality - thinking through the work that God is doing in us.